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Thursday, 12 February 2015

Generations Combiner Wars Leader Class Megatron - Pictorial Review

I was working out on the review of LG-09 Brainstorm when this arrived and the sane thing to do is to put that Brainstorm on hold and proceed with the tyrant, Generations Combiner Wars Leader Class Megatron.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

One of the greatest villain of all time, Megatron led the Decepticons force fighting for the control of Cybertron against the Autobots, an act that brought war upon the entire universe.

In Package

Hasbro surprised the fans with the announcement of Leader Class Megatron under the Generations Combiner Wars series. Most are skeptical while others ridiculed Hasbro's attempt to reboot the character for CHRUG line. Let us see, shall we?

Megatron comes in a big box with the same theme as the previous Combiner Wars releases. I just noticed that the word "Transformers" laid out vertically on the side resembles Age Of Extinction box design.

Back View

The back of the box shows Megatron in both robot and alt mode, a 15 steps transformation. From afar, you'd expect to see a long history of Megatron from the bio at the back.

Character's Bio

Nah, just in different languages.

Megatron comes with an instruction sheet, a tech spec and also one sticker sheet.

Sticker Placement

Sticker number 1 and 2 (or 3 and 4) are the insignia, both Autobot and Decepticon. For those who didn't know, Megatron switch side in the recent IDW Continuity comic book (for reason that I won't write here, lol) but I can't understand why there are also Decepticon insignia as they're already painted on the figure. No 5 and 6 are to be applied on his chest, a pattern that can be seen on IDW Megatron.

Alt Mode

A Tank??? Outrage Mode ON!

One of the biggest complaint heard during his announcement was that his alt mode. Megatron transform into a silver tank instead of a gun. For me personally, I think I can understand Hasbro's decision behind Megatron's alt mode. They tried giving Megatron a gun for his alt mode but due to legal issues, he ended up being a Nerf-like gun (Classics, 2006). So, either funny looking gun or badass tank, I preferred the latter.

The tank is really big (I'm not used to seeing big figures in CHRUG line) but he is lighter than you would expect. The alt mode locks together nicely without any loose part.

Megatron comes with 2 guns (combined into one for robot mode) and can be attached on top of the tank or few other places.

The detailing on the surface of the tank is perfectly done. Unlike most Hasbro releases, Megatron is painted silver rather than the usual gray color plastic.

The turret can be rotated 360o degree without any clearance issue it is on soft ratchet joint.

Not only he has premium finishing, Megatron also comes with WORKING rubber tread! Reminded me of Revenge of The Fallen Bludgeon. Hopefully the rubber won't break though..

Size Comparison

With Cloud Optimus Prime (Classics Optimus Prime mold)

With Combiner Wars Optimus Prime

With Masterpiece Optimus Prime (Hasbro Version)

Robot Mode

Now for the best part!

I hated him when Hasbro released his promo pictures but in hand, man, he's gorgeous! Despite unable to give Megatron his G1 alt mode, Hasbro did a really good job giving him G1 robot mode design. May I say, even better than MP-05?

There's a small kibble on Megatron's back, from the side of the tank (which can be split into two to resemble IDW Megatron. Sorry, forgot to take picture of that). Aside from that, he has a very clean design. Kudos!

Back View

Was not a fan of the head sculpt at first but now, loving it. This isn't in the picture but he has a really good red light piping.

For the most part, Megatron is silver painted with few others painted black. There are red highlight that can be found on his elbows, shoulders and few places on his body

The paint app on his leg almost resemble G1 Megatron where the shins are mostly silver/gray while the outer sides are black.

There are a few minicon ports can be found on him, mostly to be used by his variant, Armada Megatron.

One design issue that is kind of disappointing at first is that the cannon is not attached to side but on the front, rendering the right elbow useless.

Luckily it can be folded halfway, freeing his elbow while not looking weird. Case closed! The cannon is on a swivel and can be rotated but I'm not sure whether or not it can be detached.

Menacing? Intimidating? Absolutely!

Megatron comes with a ball-jointed head (wide range), ratchet joint on the elbows, wrist swivels, waist swivels (limited unless you push the tank tread on his back upwards, giving clearance. The hips are on universal joints with swivels just below them. The knees are on ratchet joint and there's small, almost none, ankle tilts.

The thing that worried me before was the design of the shoulders which looks a bit limited at first. But they actually are kind of triple-jointed where the parts attached to the body can swing back and forth, the middle is on ratchet joint while the attachment to the arms are on hinges.

Forgot about his small gun....

Comparison

Combiner Wars Optimus Prime can be considered a big voyager and personally, the size of these two really works as I always prefer the bad guy to be bigger. But the biggest question about Leader Class Megatron was when Takara posted a picture comparing him (Takara Version) with MP-10 Convoy.

Sadly, Megatron is actually half-a-head shorter than MP-10, destroying fans' dream of making him a filler, temporary replacement until the release of MP Megatron Version 2. For me, it's not just the height. Megatron's slim design doesn't really fit with MP-10's bulkiness and also the overall aesthetic don't really scream 'Masterpiece' to me (despite the big G1 homage).

Personally, I think Takara's move was just so that people went on and buy Leader Megatron first before they realize there's actually a real MP Megatron Version 2 coming. (Note : PURE SPECULATION)

13 comments:

Very excited about this figure. I like the brightly colored classics Megs but ultimately I find I prefer the more understated G1 color scheme, and this is probably about as close as we'll ever get to an official G1 Megs that looks so much like the original animation model, unless there is ever a new MP version.

Hopefully Megs will completely destroy the Universe Ironhide up there. It would be doing us all a favor.

I much prefer tank to gun. I've heard rumor Legends Shockwave will be a space gun to use with Bruticus, but unless they're going to do something like that, I like the idea of Megatron turning into something big and beefy.

And chance of you doing a Master V / Madlaw review this month, or are you not picking him up? Due to the dock strike in the US I probably don't get mine til next month at the earliest :(

This rendition appears to be a decent tribute to Megatron as he should have been. A gun just seems so limiting in every way (mobility, size, dependency on others to hold & fire) for one as ambitious and mighty as this chief tyrant who 'cannibalizes' fallen foes and integrates their circuitry and components in order to battle-upgrade himself into the ideal killing machine for mega-cycles. True to this spirit, remember the episode in G1 where Megatron uses the powers of all his Decepticons on Earth to battle Optimus 1-on-1? Looking forward to the well-planned retool/repaint & redeco: Armada Megatron (and perhaps Cloud & Armada Galvatrons)! Will be ideal to battle Super Mode Combiner Optimus (in the vein of the Unicron Trilogy Optimuses)!